Left-handed sophomore Andrew Hartline played golf with a broken right ankle, yet still helped the Forest Hills Central jayvee team to an undefeated dual season. Hartline even earned medalist honors in the Mona Shores Tournament, while resting his front foot on a milk crate. (Supplied Photo)

ADA – Andrew Hartline has an unusual story to tell, and he hopes other young athletes will pay attention.

The Forest Hills Central sophomore certainly will never take playing his favorite sports, golf and hockey, for granted.

Hartline epitomized the sheer power of hard work and perseverance during the recent jayvee golf season, when he overcame a devastating injury to play some of the best golf in the OK White Conference.

It was a spring of great golf that almost never was for Hartline. After breaking his right ankle at the end of the jayvee hockey season, Hartline, an avid golfer for a decade, faced the very real possibility of having to miss the entire golf season.

Rather than succumb to the injury and a lost season, Hartline did whatever he could to both make the team and excel on the golf course.

FHC jayvee golf coach Bill Alexander explained how Hartline took the initiative to make his sophomore season a reality.

“Andrew always struck me as the type of kid who would take care of it himself,” said Alexander. “It was not one of those situations where mom would contact me and say, ‘Woe is my son.’ It was a pretty unique situation where Andrew contacted me and asked what he could do to make the team. He was the driving force in making sure we got on the same page.

“He did everything in his power to get himself in a good position to play golf.”

For Hartline, sitting back and not playing simply wasn’t an option.

“It’s so tough letting your season go away,” said Hartline, who started the spring with a cast on his right foot and played while resting his right leg on a milk crate for support. “It’s tough to go through the whole season without giving it a shot. I told coach, ‘As crazy as it sounds, I can play golf. Just give me a shot.’ I came down to tryouts and I beat everyone at tryouts. I was just hoping he took me.”

Not only did Hartline make the team, but it seems his ankle injury became the last bit of bad fortune he suffered this spring. The exceptionally harsh winter actually worked out in his favor because the slow snow melt delayed golf tryouts by three weeks until after Spring Break. By that time, his foot was healed well enough for him to hit the ball while using the milk crate, his crutches, and cast.

A lefty, Hartline also was fortunate to have broken his right ankle, rather than his left. With his right foot on the milk crate, he had the advantage of facing uphill, while putting all his weight on his back foot.

Coach Alexander and the other Ranger golfers then watched Hartline hit 280-foot line drives off one foot, as if he were hitting a hockey slapshot.

In tryouts, he was the top jayvee scorer and topped all but four of the varsity contenders out of 32 players. After Hartline made the team, Alexander had to contact all their opponents’ coaches and tournament administrators to allow Hartline to ride around in a golf cart with an opponent during matches. All the opposing coaches approved, and he was able to play while carrying his club and crutches to each spot, with another teammate carrying his milk crate.

Despite his injury, Hartline led the jayvee Rangers to an undefeated season in dual matches and three first-place finishes out of six tournaments. After progressing to a walking boot during the last two weeks of the season, he was medalist with a low score of 81 at the 60-player Mona Shores Tournament at Stone Gate Golf Club.

“Just to see the look on his face when he hobbled up there to get his medal was priceless,” said Alexander, who expects Hartline to do many great things at the varsity level over the next two years.

Alexander is also impressed with how Hartline always stays focused and works hard during practice. Hartline’s reason for his focus is straight-forward.

“I really just want to play golf, go out there, score well, rank, and go as far with it as I can,” said Hartline. “I push myself to the limits and don’t take days off. For six weeks there, it was go, go, go, between going to the doctor, tournaments, and golf practice. I’m so grateful I had the opportunity to push myself to play golf, and it worked out great.”

Hartline aims to work as hard as he can at both hockey and golf, and play one of the two sports at the college level. He is already out playing summer golf at every opportunity, where he hopes to break a score of 80.

He also had a simple message for other athletes facing a similar situation.

“I want to teach people that you can play, even with an injury,” said Hartline. “You can overcome it, if you give it a shot. If I can do it, anybody can do it.”